New Hope For PTSD And Inflammation: Gutting It Out With Molecular Hydrogen

New study shows PTSD relief may be more about the stomach than the head

The medical community has been looking high when it should have been looking low for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) treatment. Recent research shows that this enigmatic psychological disorder is not all in the head, but rather in the gut of the millions of U.S. adults per year who suffer from PTSD.

An important study last year by McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, found that certain gut microbes can actually prevent PTSD, a disorder that occurs after people have experienced a severe psychological injury or trauma with symptoms ranging from sleep disorders to anxiety to flashbacks. Sufferers usually get flashbacks and relive traumatic experiences repeatedly.

Similar findings by the Office of Naval Research links a healthy gut with better mood and behavior with the promise of preventing or curing neurological disorders such as anxiety and depression, as well as PTSD.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), gut bacteria strongly influences our metabolic, endocrine, immune, and both peripheral, and central nervous systems. Depression has been associated with enhanced levels of proinflammatory biomarkers and abnormal responses to stress. These factors seem to predict and predispose individuals to develop PTSD after a traumatic event.

Scientists refer to the microbiome as the communities of microorganisms that inhabit your skin, mouth, gut, and other parts of your body. Like fingerprints, no two microbiomes are the same. The trillions of microbes in the intestinal tract profoundly impact human biology — digesting food, regulating the immune system, and even transmitting signals to the brain that alter mood and behavior.

Enteric Nervous System: Brain In The Gut

“This means our gut bacteria directly influence every system in the body including endocrine, metabolic, immune, digestive, the peripheral system, the enteric nervous system, and our central nervous system (CNS),” says Rogers. “The enteric nervous system has a direct relationship with happy, joyful, upbeat emotions as well as depression, anger, and anxiety.”

The peripheral system, says Rogers, is a social system that interacts together with our CNS and our body. Bodily functions involve the skin, muscles, heart, stomach, and intestines. The CNS can be stressed by many factors, including poor quality foods, imbalances in cortisol levels and endocrine disruptors.

“There is evidence that oxidative stress plays a role in the pathogenesis (development) of PTSD, and some studies have found that those suffering from the disorder have low levels of antioxidant activity compared to control groups,” says health care writer and editor Claudia Rallis.

A Closer Look At The Science

The term post-traumatic stress disorder was originally associated with war veterans. Up to 20 percent of U.S. veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan have had post-traumatic stress, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. With that said, an estimated 76 percent of the population will experience an event potentially traumatic enough to trigger symptoms of PTSD. Emergency responders and doctors are especially vulnerable. As many as 60 percent of patients discharged from intensive care units (ICUs) are also apt to suffer.

At first it seems incredible that microscopic gut bacteria could have anything to do with trauma-induced conditions until you look at the connection between the two main states of nervous system arousal: parasympathetic and sympathetic. The parasympathetic nervous system arousal is responsible for “rest and digest.” The sympathetic nervous system arousal is responsible for “fight or flight.” The vagus nerve basically controls the parasympathetic nervous system. Under stress-free conditions it keeps us relaxed but alert. It keeps our heartbeat within a resting state and keeps our gut working to digest. But when the brain’s alarm system, the amygdala, recognizes danger, muscular tension clamps down on the vagus nerve. Ears perk up, pupils dilate to see more movement, the heartbeat increases to pump blood away from the digestive process and into our limbs for faster flight or stronger fight.

Trauma happens when we experience something that is horrific but we can do nothing about it. Our nervous system kicks into a dual arousal of both sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system arousal for a freeze response. This trauma becomes PTSD if we fail to process what is happening through our available nervous systems.

The Human Microbiome Project

In the same way that scientists are busy cataloguing DNA in the Human Genome Project, researchers are also cataloguing the vast range of bacteria that live on or within the human body. Called the Human Microbiome Project (HMP), scientists have discovered that every person has a collection of whole ecosystems of microbes in every part of our body, including the gut and intestines. The diversity in these microbial ecosystems is what keeps us healthy, physically and psychologically.

The good news is that an imbalance in the gut microbiota can be corrected. This was illustrated in a study at the University of Colorado Boulder where scientists gave stressed mice some of the same bacteria found in the guts of calm mice. The anxious mice immediately calmed down and experienced better moods and less anxiety.

Bacteria Also Have a Time Schedule

Another study has discovered that bacteria, like humans, have their own unique inner-clock or circadian rhythms. These are linked to our body’s multitude of other rhythms as we release hormones that affect our gut activity at different times of day. When our circadian rhythms are out of whack, the bacteria in our stomachs and intestines also get off track. Our health affects our gut bacteria and their health affects our own well-being in an endless loop. Healthy gut bacteria and unhealthy bacteria release different signals with different timing. These biochemical signals in turn affect our brains, especially the way we process stress.

Use probiotics – These are supplements that introduce live beneficial microbes into your digestive tract. It’s important to use probiotics that survive stomach acids. Just Thrive offers the only all natural probiotic-and-antioxidant combination product that 100 percent survives the harsh conditions of the stomach and arrives alive in the small intestine to get to work for you. Use in combination with prebiotics, which help nourish probiotics.

Eat fermented foods – Choose ones that contain live cultures and have not been pasteurized, since pasteurization kills the beneficial bacteria. Good choices include sauerkraut, kimchi, , coconut kefir, and kombucha.

Protect existing gut flora – Medications such as strong antibiotics can kill good gut bacteria. Don’t take anything that isn’t absolutely necessary. Anxiety is also a gut killer. Meditation, yoga and tai chi can help keep your existing beneficial microbes very happy.

Thomas Ropp Longtime journalist Thomas Ropp is an environmental advocate and proponent of living healthier. After spending most of his life in Arizona, he relocated to a Costa Rican rainforest ten years ago and helped with reforestation projects to expand the habitat of the endangered mono titi monkey. He has dual residency in the United States and Costa Rica.